


Distance Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

by didsomebodysaylily



Category: Holby City
Genre: Angst, Canon Related, Dofty, Happy Ending, M/M, just to be clear the f word is used once
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-21
Updated: 2017-10-23
Packaged: 2019-01-20 19:11:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12439737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/didsomebodysaylily/pseuds/didsomebodysaylily
Summary: REQUEST: Would you write a fic where Lofty talks to Sacha about his past and sexuality and his feelings for Dom? And maybe Dom talks to Sacha too and he's in the middle being all caring as usual? Angsty pining from Dofty but it'll all turn good in the end?? Please!





	1. Lofty talks to Sacha

Lofty didn’t think he could spend another day on Keller with Dom acting the way he was. Everything was so cold and sharp and Lofty just needed a break from him if he was ever going to have a chance of moving on. It was getting towards the end of a rather quiet day and most things were settling down. Through the glass panel in the door, Lofty could see Sacha sat at his desk going through some paperwork between yawns and sipping at his mug of probably cold tea. Knocking on the door, Lofty opened it slightly saying, “Is it alright if I have a word Sacha? If you’re not too busy that is.” 

“Of course Lofty. Have a seat.” Sacha replied putting down the document he was currently not reading. “What’s up.” 

“I can’t stay on Keller anymore. For the time being at least. I was thinking of transferring to AAU for a month or so for… just for a bit of a break.” 

“I hope it’s not anything I’ve done and if there’s anyway I can change anything.” 

“Oh no no. Sacha you’re brilliant and it’s not necessarily a permanent thing. I just think I need some space.” 

 

Lofty took a deep breath. He wasn’t sure how much he should tell Sacha, or even how much he wanted to tell Sacha. His life had become such a tangle of feelings and work and awkward silences that he didn’t know what to make of any of it anymore. He swallowed in an attempt to take control of his nerves and then looked back up at Sacha who was smiling at him sympathetically. 

 

“Is this to do with Dom?” He asked. Lofty sighed. It seemed more and more every problem was to do with Dom and he’d almost lost track as to what they even were anymore. 

“Partly.” Lofty replied honestly. There was more to it than just unrequited love. Dom had been so incredibly dismissive of him personally and it was beginning to bleed into the professional as well, to the point where Lofty felt he was always waiting for the next time Dom would snap at him. “I don’t know what to tell you Sacha.” It was then that the tears began to form in Lofty’s eyes. He’d never opened up about his sexuality to anyone before because he’d never had to. For most of his teen years he’d not really had any serious relationships, and when he got to university it didn’t seem to matter. He’d had a couple of serious girlfriends and had a couple more serious crushes, but had never had a relationship with a guy. 

 

Sacha stood up and walked around the desk to give Lofty a hug. 

“Lofty you can tell me anything you want to tell me, okay. All confidential. I just want to make sure you’re okay.” Lofty smiled knowing that maybe this was the time for him to open up at last. 

“You know I’ve never actually talked to anyone about my sexuality. I’ve never really needed to. Coming out was never really a thing for me. I guess I was lucky. I didn’t fear being rejected because I didn’t think I was going to be. I’ve really only dated women but that doesn’t mean I’m not any less attracted to guys but I don’t feel like he gets that you know. After Dom and I, um, I told that I’d only ever seriously dated women before and he made into this big thing and he wouldn’t listen to me and I felt so dismissed. Like he didn’t believe my sexuality. I just wanted to shout in his face ‘Dom I’m bisexual. Get over yourself’. I would never do that though. And now he’s all sullen and removed and I feel like he hates me. I just need some distance from him.” 

 

Lofty looked down at his feet suddenly embarrassed by everything he’d said. Sacha didn’t want to know all this and it was unbelievably inappropriate of him to open up like this. But when he felt Sacha’s arms tighten around him, he found comfort in finally laying everything out to someone who could understand. 

“It’s okay Lofty. Sometimes a break from a bad situation is for the best. Dom has been through a lot and can be really obtuse sometimes.” Sacha said stepping back from Lofty and sitting back behind his desk. “You know that Dom doesn’t hate you, and eventually he will come to see that.” 

 

Lofty chuckled slightly. He hoped Sacha was right but was beginning to doubt it. 

“Dom has always been a guarded person, but that’s only because of his insecurities Lofty. It is nothing to do with you.” Sacha gave one final reassuring smile as there was a knock on the door and Fredrik peered around. “Just a minute.” Sacha said to him and then turned back to Lofty. “Well we’ll miss you on Keller but you should be able to start on AAU next week.” 

“Thanks Sacha.” He replied, “Hopefully I’ll be back here soon.”

 

He left Sacha to talk to Fredrik and began back to the Nurse’s station. It was then that he saw Dom and ran to catch up with him to ask if he wanted to go out that evening to celebrate the move with him. 


	2. Dom talks to Sacha

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dom isn't coping all that well now that Lofty has moved to AAU

It’d been a week since Lofty had moved to AAU and Dom was now beginning to wait by the lift in the morning in order to see him. He hadn’t realised quite how much he’d miss Lofty when he was gone. No matter how much he kept telling himself that it wasn’t like him to be needy and pathetic, he didn’t stop waiting each day. The ward was very busy this morning and Dom’s patient was being especially difficult, asking about the procedure over and over again; constantly wanting to have new tests every 10 minutes and a nurse at his side at all times just in case something went wrong. Dom’s patience was being forced to the very edge and he finally snapped.

“You are going to be fine Mr Collins. Now please may I get on as, as you can see, I have lots of other patients I need to see to. You are not, it may shock you to know, my only concern here.” he spat out at a surprised Mr Collins. Sacha looked over in horror and shouted at him from across the ward. “Doctor Copeland, my office.” 

 

Dom let out a breath in a frustrated way and stomped over to the office. He knew he probably shouldn’t have spoken to a patient like that but he was impeding on his ability to do his job properly and he really wasn’t in the mood this morning for anything else to not go to plan. Lofty had ignored him in the morning and had clearly settled into AAU very well and was doing absolutely fine without him. Sacha burst into the room closing the door behind him and just looked at Dom. He didn’t need words for Dom to understand that he’d messed up. 

 

“Now I know you’ve got a lot on your plate right now Dom but you can NOT talk to a patient like that. I’ve managed to dissuade him from making a formal complaint but Doctor Johansson will be taking over his case from here on out.” 

“I’m sorry Sacha. I should know better.” Dom said somewhat monotonously as he went to leave. 

“No you don’t get off that easily.” Sacha said stopping him in his tracks. “Sit down. I want to have a chat with you because there is clearly more going on than a bad day here and I cannot go on having one of my doctor’s working on a short fuse.” Dom sighed. He’d been wondering if this was going to happen at some point. Sacha had an uncanny way of being able to tell when something was up with him emotionally. 

 

“So Dom. Are you just going to tell me what’s up or am I going to have to force this out of you.” Sacha waited a minute before saying, “You have been off since Zosia’s wedding but it’s got especially bad this past week. Now I may be wrong but the only difference in the past week has been Lofty moving to AAU. I don’t want to assume anything…”

“Then don’t assume anything.” retorted Dom. Sacha stared at him like a disappointed father, or more like his mother when he’d snap at her. Maybe he should just let Sacha in. Emotional vulnerability had never been a strength of Dom’s but he knew he’d have to open up in order to leave the office unless someone started dying on the ward. He started praying someone would start dying on the ward. When a minute passed and they hadn’t been interrupted, Dom finally gave in. 

“Okay okay. Yes it’s Lofty. I don’t like that he’s gone, and that we just stopped talking. I left it on such bad terms and I feel bad I guess.” Sacha gave him and encouraging look, inviting him to continue. “You probably guessed but we hooked up at the wedding and I think it meant way more to him than it meant to me. I mean, it did mean a lot to me as well, but like not in way bigger than it being him. And I just wanted to give him space and stuff, but now it’s too much space and I don’t know what to do. I feel like I’ve fucked everything up.” 

 

“I thought it’d be something like that.” Sacha said simply. “You know he’s not a child Dom and he would understand if you talk to him, and more importantly listen to him.” 

“I just think I’ve been so messed up in the past year with Isaac. Maybe,” Dom struggled to get the words out as he’d never allowed himself to admit that he felt this way before, “Maybe I’m just not meant to be in a relationship. I lie and I cheat and I manipulate and I get manipulated. And I don’t want to do that too Lofty. He’s too good. He’s too good for me.” It heart Sacha to see how little faith Dom had in himself and how little respect he seemed to have for himself. 

 

“You are not your past Dom. You are not what Isaac did to you and you would never do that to Lofty. Dom you are a loving person who has never had that love back. If you want to be happy then you have to seek happiness where and when you can find it. Give Lofty a chance, but give him a chance to say his piece. Treat him as you would want someone to treat you, because he’s a guy with a lot of love to give. You deserve that love Dom.” Sacha was beginning to get a little emotional himself. He’d seen Dom through a lot over the past few years, and for the first time in a long time he couldn’t see a bad bone in the person Dom seemed to be falling in love with. It was difficult for Dom to hear what Sacha was saying, and even harder for him to accept it as truth. Nonetheless, he knew he was right. Sacha was always right.  

 

He nodded at Sacha and smiled. “Now get back to work Doctor Copeland. I expect to see a better attitude from this point on, agreed?” 

“Agreed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter will be up tomorrow (monday) :D


	3. Lofty and Dom talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lofty stumbles upon Dom in the lift on the way out at the end of the day, and they finally talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A kinda short chapter to finish off this request. Hope you like it :D  
> And I'd love more requests :DDD

A few days had passed since Dom had spoken to Sacha and he still hadn’t had the chance to talk to Lofty. He worried that if he didn’t speak to him soon, he would never get around to it. The butterflies in his stomach started up again as he rehearsed how the conversation could go in his head. “What are you? A mopey school girl!” he scolded himself. He was in the lift on the way down to the car when it stopped before he’d reached the ground floor. And in walked Lofty also heading out for the day. 

 

“Oh, hi Dom.” Lofty said timidly. He hadn’t been avoiding Dom per se but it had been a while since they’d last been alone together. Putting all of his effort into suppressing the pang of want in the pit of his stomach, he asked, “How’s Keller been?” 

“Fine fine, yeah, fine. It’s fine.” Dom mumbled in response. “Listen Lofty, I’m really sorry for how rude and abrasive I was before you left. It wasn’t fair of me to just swipe you away like that and I really owe you an apology, so, here it is. Sorry.” He finished off sincerely with a smile. “I know you’re not a child and I was unnecessarily dismissive of you. And, yeah I’m sorry. I really am.” He wanted to reach across a give Lofty a hug, but didn’t think it was his place to initiate anything. Lofty stood there for a minute contemplating his response. He wanted to believe Dom, and had to admit to himself that it had been harder than he’d expected on AAU without the familiar faces of Keller around him everyday. 

“It’s okay Dom. I just wished I’d had the opportunity to explain everything to you. I think I just got the wrong end of the stick and then when you left Freddie I just thought that, but I jumped to conclusions and I’m sorry.”  

 

The two of them looked at each other somewhat awkwardly. It was the palpable silence that promoted Lofty to ask, “Is this lift actually going anywhere?” 

“Oh my gosh.” replied Dom laughing. “Did you forget to press a button?”

“ I may have forgotten to press a button.” Lofty reached over and pressed the button for the ground floor and they began to move again. “To be perfectly honest, I’ve missed Keller. It was slightly less stressful than AAU.” 

“And the doctors are far better looking.”

“Oh absolutely.” Lofty played a long a little hesitantly. 

“I’ve missed you on Keller too.” said Dom. “Well, we’ve missed you Keller I mean.”

“Oh really. Because I’m sure you just said that you missed me personally.” retorted Lofty playfully. 

“Oh no. You should see Essie. She’s a mess” 

“Right”

“Crying every morning.” They both laughed with the tension now broken. They kept smiling at each other, finally feeling the comfort and friendship that had been missing since they hooked up. 

 

The lift arrived at the ground floor and they both left through the stainless steel doors. 

“You know I think I may transfer back to Keller early.” said Lofty. 

“Yeah?” 

“Yeah.”

“I would like that Lofty.” Dom said smiling, finding his new found sincerity a liberating way to talk to Lofty. “Would you like to go for a drink Nurse Chiltern to celebrate?” he said brightly. 

“Yeah, that’d be great. Should we call Sacha and the whole gang?” 

“Um no. I was thinking maybe it could be just the two of us?” He looked into Lofty’s eyes to try and gage his reaction. He hoped it wasn’t too far and he hadn’t confused Lofty too much with his constant change in direction. 

“That sounds lovely Doctor Copeland.” and he placed his hand on Dom’s shoulder happy that Dom seemed to be making a definite and thoughtful decision. The two of them left laughing and talking as if nothing had wrong. They knew there was more to say between them, but that could wait until they both a drink in their hands and had slightly more confidence in being honest with their feelings.


End file.
